Traded to the Adom King

Deadly Duel

"You!" Emet yelled as he burst into the throne room, the knight violently pushing the large doors open on his way. "How dare you touch the princess with your filthy hands!" He furiously shouted at the Adom King.

Said King was currently sitting on his throne with his general Onan and two of his counsellors standing before him. Azalia could recognise Leor, the man with black closely-shaved hair, and Tzilla, the woman with short curly hair she had quite liked during the last High Council.

But now wasn't the time to remember their names. "Emet!" She let out a shocked gasp at her knight's words. "Cease this madness!" Emet must have hit his head somewhere to act in such a reckless way. Azalia was desperately trying to stop him and to make him leave the throne room, but Emet wasn't budging one bit as he intensely glared at the Adom King.

That only seemed to amuse Melech, the King feeling unimpressed by Emet's sudden appearance. He had been discussing important matters with his counsellors but definitely wasn't against some entertainment.

"Of course I'm going to touch her if I take her as my wife." He mocked Emet in a voice filled with disdain. "And you can trust me to do way more than just touching her." He slyly added with a smirk on his lips, clearly enjoying the look of pure rage that took over Emet's face.

The knight was seeing red. He couldn't even believe the amount of disrespect Melech was using when talking about Azalia. "You don't even deserve to lay eyes on her, you pathetic excuse of a King." He lowly snarled, fury beyond words swirling inside him.

Melech's crimson eyes suddenly became dark and menacing at the insult. He was the Adom King, the most powerful man of the land, and would allow no one to insult him in this way. "I should have killed you the first time I saw you." He told Emet in a bloodcurdling voice.

That only made Emet scoff in response. It just happened he was thinking the exact same thing, and so finally pulled his sword out of his scabbard to point it at the Adom King.

"I challenge you to a duel." He announced. "To the death."

Azalia instantly felt her heart stop to beat at the words. "Don't you dare, Emet!" She exclaimed, her sapphire eyes searching for Emet's blue and green ones. "I forbid you from doing this!" But Emet's gaze was firmly focused on Melech, his expression filled with determination and deadly resolution.

"He didn't mean it." Azalia had no other choice but to turn to Melech. "You shouldn't listen to what he just said. He obviously lost his mind!" The Lavan princess said but Emet suddenly raised his voice at her. "Stay out of this, Azalia!" He yelled, his loud tone only upsetting Azalia even more.

"I will not stay out of this!" She shouted back at him. "You promised me you weren't going to get yourself killed!"

"Who says I'll lose?" Emet replied in a frighteningly calm voice.

That sent shivers of horror down Azalia's spine, her blood running cold at the words. Emet wasn't going to change his mind. It was clear he wouldn't stop until he or Melech died, and that terrified Azalia so much she didn't know what to do anymore.

"Leor." Melech used the opportunity to have her restrained. "Go take care of the princess." He told one of his counsellors and the man wasted no time walking to Azalia. "With pleasure." He grinned as he grabbed Azalia by the arm to get her out of the way.

Except Azalia wasn't going to comply just like that. "Do not touch me!" She violently elbowed Leor right into his stomach.

"s**t!" It made him curse under his breath, his misery dragging a laugh out of Tzilla. "Come help me restrain her instead of laughing!" Leor growled at her.

"You're on your own, Leor." Tzilla refused to move and so Onan had to be the one to come help him. "Easy, princess." He tried to calm Azalia down as Leor began to drag her out of the way. "We don't want you getting hurt."

Meanwhile, Melech had finally left his throne to walk toward Emet.

"Then, shall we begin?" He smirked as he grabbed his own weapon. It wasn't a sword like Emet but a double-headed axe made with dark steel. It was strong enough to withhold intense temperatures, the blades looking extremely sharp and the handle being made of the same material as the axe.

"That is, if you're ready to die yet." Melech smugly added, his crimson eyes darkening as they locked onto his opponent.

Emet only scoffed in response. He knew the Adom King was famous for being merciless during battles. Rumours said he had never once lost in combat before and always left no survivors behind him...

But Emet was also confident in his skills. He was the strongest knight of the Lavan Kingdom. He had spent years training to be the best guard for Azalia, and had never once found someone who could win against him in the Lavan Kingdom.

"I'll put a stop to your tyrannic reign." He told Melech as he got into a fighting stance. "You'll never be able to hurt Azalia ever again."

Melech simply smirked at the words, the Adom King taking a fighting stance as well. The two men silently studied each other for several seconds, neither of them moving an inch as they both waited for the perfect moment to attack, when, in the blink of an eye, they suddenly lunged at each other.

"Stop, don't fight!" Azalia cried at the sight. She felt so powerless as Leor and Onan prevented her from rushing to Emet's side. She could only watch the battle from afar, her heart aching inside her chest at the thought of her being the reason why the two men were fighting.

"Please, stop them! Do something!" She pleaded with Onan. The Adom general had always been nice to her, and so Azalia prayed for him to help her... but Onan had to obey his King before doing anything else. "I'm sorry, princess." He apologised with a pained expression on his face.

"It's between the two of them, now." Tzilla told her. She seemed to understand Azalia's pain, but couldn't do anything about it either. "Interrupting a duel to the death would be an insult to their names."

Azalia didn't care about that. She only wanted this madness to stop, tears gathering inside her sapphire eyes as the sound of weapons colliding against one another echoed throughout the throne room.

"You should enjoy the show." Leor laughed at her. "You have two men fighting over you, one of them being the King of the Adom Kingdom." He was finding the situation amusing, as if a duel to the death was something meant to be entertaining, and so Azalia chose not to answer him. She worryingly watched the fight before her instead, her heart jumping inside her chest each time Melech's double-headed axe grazed Emet's skin.

"I have to admit that you're not as shitty as I thought you would be." Melech mocked Emet as he dodged yet another of his attacks. They both hadn't managed to wound the other yet, but Melech's movements were more precise while Emet's seemed to be rushed and driven by blinding rage.

"Stop talking or I'll really kill you." He growled at Melech.

The Lavan knight couldn't keep his calm even if he wanted to. The only thing on his mind was to finally drive his sword through Melech's stomach. He wanted to make the Adom King bleed to death, and Emet would watch him as life slowly left his body.

Except Melech wasn't ready to die, the Adom King seemingly toying with Emet. "You seem really infuriated for someone who's only supposed to be the princess' guard..." He began, a smirk on his lips as his red eyes focused on Emet's expression. "Bet you wanted to keep her all for yourself, huh?" He watched with satisfaction as Emet's eyes filled with anger.

"Shut up." The knight snarled but Melech didn't stop talking. No, on the contrary, he kept talking to try and get under Emet's skin.

"You had planned to make her yours but I stole her away from you. Now, you'll never be able to marry her like you wanted to." He continued, his smirk widening as Emet burned with barely-controlled rage. Just a little more and Melech would be pushing him to his limits.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her for you." He taunted the knight with a sly grin. "I'll f**k her until she cries." He added and that seemed to be the last straw for Emet. He finally snapped, utter fury driving him as he suddenly lunged at Melech.

"You bastard!" He shouted as he blindly attacked the Adom King.

But it had been exactly what Melech was waiting for, and a dark smile took over his features as he used his power to make his weapon burn. The lava inside his veins sent warmth to his double-headed axe, the blades glowing a bright red as Melech got ready to end this fight.

He easily dodged Emet's attack, the Adom King skilfully swinging Emet's sword away in one swift movement before driving his own axe through the knight's stomach.

Emet only let out a choked gasp, his bicolored eyes widening at the sensation of something piercing his stomach. Blood dripped out of his mouth as his legs suddenly gave out, his body collapsing onto the ground as soon as Melech pulled his axe out of him.

"It's over, fucker." Melech stated as he raised his double-headed axe high into the air. He was about to swing it down, intending to cut Emet's head off, when Azalia suddenly threw herself right between him and Emet.

"No!" She stopped Melech from finishing Emet's off.

She had bitten Leor's arm when the counsellor had been distracted by the fight, the Lavan princess finally managing to get away only to hurry back to Emet's side. "Don't kill him!" She protected Emet from Melech's deadly axe. "I'm begging you!" She desperately implored the Adom King, her pride long forgotten as blood slowly dripped out of Emet's stomach.

The red liquid was overflowing onto the ground, but Azalia knew it wasn't too late. The injury seemed serious but, if appropriate treatment was provided soon enough, it was common knowledge someone could survive from a wound in the stomach.

Her healing powers were disastrous, but Azalia knew Temira would be able to save Emet. She just needed to convince Melech to spare his life.

"Please. I'll do anything you want!" She promised out of desperation.

That seemed to arouse Melech's interest just like Azalia had assumed it would. Killing Emet would bring nothing to the King except momentary satisfaction. It wasn't particularly exhilarating nor interesting. However, having Azalia obey his every demand had to be something he was interested in...

"Anything?" He asked, something lustful and predatory glistening inside his red eyes as he looked at Azalia.

It made the Lavan princess gulp. She knew she would be at Melech's complete mercy if she were to say yes, but Emet was too important for her. She didn't have any other choice if she wanted to save him.

That's why she took a shaky breath, her heart dangerously racing inside her chest as she responded to the Adom King. "Yes. Anything." She said, her sapphire eyes looking right into burning crimson ones as she spoke. "I'll do anything if you let my attendant heal his wound."

She had already traded her life for the sake of her kingdom. She could easily trade her own body to save one of her closest friends.

Melech smirked at her words. He licked his lips, the Adom King already thinking about everything he could do to Azalia now that she wouldn't stop him anymore. "Tzilla." His ruby eyes never once left Azalia's as he spoke. "Call the princess' attendant and tell Elisav to clear my schedule." He said before dangerously grinning at Azalia.

"It looks like I'll be busy for the rest of the day."